St. Sebastiaan Golden | Brouwerij Sterkens N.V.

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

More User Reviews:

Appearance - Nice, light orange body with a modest head that laced the inside of the glass.

Smell - The aroma is wrapped very tightly and needs some time to breath. The sharp yeast and light fruits are complimented by some stiff spicing.

Taste - The solid yeast flavor is nicely complimented by tropical fruits, peach primarily (more like peach schnapps), but also orange, banana, and kiwi. I'm having trouble pinning down the spices, but they work well with this ale.

Mouthfeel - The carbonation is a little on the lighter side for an Abbey Trippel, but pleasant nevertheless. The ale is medium in the body with a firm alcohol sensation.

Drinkability - This went down quite well. The deep fruits and light carbonation made short order of the bottle. They can do away with the wire and cap.

Update: I hadn't had this beer in seven years and they just changed the bottle so I thought I'd give it another go. It really is one of the better Trippels out there and I'd say that I enjoyed the body and carbonation better than my original review. It seems a lot closer to full-bodied than when I wrote the review and the delicacy of the fruit flavors really set it apart from the pack.

Taste: Creamy medium bodied and a moderate sweetness, tropical fruit jump out from the alcoholic esters. Holds a crisp carbonation even after quite a hard pour. Semi slick malty palate with a heavy hand of sweetness which is kept in check by the peppery warming alcohol and an herbal liquorice phenolic character. Fruitiness is more on the tropical side &#8230; star fruit, guava and apricot. Hops are noticeable yet do not get in the way, warmth from the alcohol stays for a while as well as the herbal flavour from the phenols into the long lasting after taste. Finish dries a little though some sweetness sticks around.

Notes: What you would anticipate in a Belgian Golden Ale. Fruity, peppery, spicy, lively and sweet with a traditional Belgian yeast flare. Kudos to the brewers, great stuff!

16 oz classy, swing top bottle, with no freshness dating. I took a gamble on this one. Picked it up in a Korean market, wasnt sure how long it been sitting around. Anyway the heavyweight, porcelean bottle did a decent job of preservation, as it poured a hazy light orangy golden almond shade. Moderate lacing and sheeting. Nose of nuts, alcohol and yeast. This a pleasant golden ale. Seems to be a bit thin in the flavor department, understated may be a better word. Maybe the flavor was not that well preserved...light spicyness detected, as well some typical belgian triple/golden flavor notes. Enjoyable sipper, however not up to the standards of the top brews of this style

Hazy brown-yewllow color, nice small-bubbled head. Muted aroma, some sense of stainless steel and some sweetness. Flavors were reserved to my tongue, some Belgian "mustiness" and candy corn, a little bit of pear. Nice mouthfeel. Just enough hoppiness to balance the brew. I'd like to write more here, but the flavors didn't break through well to me. Certainly drinkable but I wanted more. As usual, a great container, this time a grey crock with a swing-top.

Aroma brings spices to the nose first, with a mild malty sweetness. Mild alcohol and slight banana in the background.

Flavor carries a mildly spicy flavor, peppery, a pleasing but unassertive maltiness, faint hops character. It's good, but not great. We should expect more from a Belgian Tripel.

Mouthfeel is slick and buttery, not thin and not heavy, but the weak carbonation is felt.

I decided to shake the bottle before pouring the rest, hoping any sediment might help wake this one up. It helped only with the mouthfeel, giving some nice creaminess that wasn't there on the first pour.

The label claims it was "brewed according to the purity law of 1516"...so they're brewing by a German law? Regardless, this one is merely ok with some real flaws.

This was a grand cru insomuch as a sweet spice. Bottle work of art. Surprisingly refreshing summer drink. Yeast and cream but doesn't seem a triple. Better than expected and popular with mates. Fruit, honey, suitably noticeably carbonated. Medium-light mouthfeel, lace and soap bubbles on top of golden yellow.

First off the bottle is awesome. A ceramic with flip top lid extremely rare nowadays.
This beer poured to a gorgeous hazy golden yellow with a big airey white head which seemed last forever. Plenty of belgian lace marked the sides of the pint glass. Plenty fruity aromas to awaken your senses with a nice sharp hop bit at first taste. Then followed by sweet smooth malt. A full bodied beer that is easy to drink considering the alcohol content.
If you find this beer do yourself a favor and get a couple. The price tag is high but well worth it.

A. Pours golden yellow with inch thick white head. Has good retention, its been sitting for a minute and its still thick. High carbonation, keeps bubbling on.

S. Slight fruity, bannanas, wheat and some spice.

T. Mmm, havent had a light belgian in a while. Tastes a lot like it smells. Only a bit bitter hops on the end but definitely not bad.

MF. Very smooth, almost a little creamy with the head still around.

OA. its pretty average but by no means bad. I love the little artwork on the bottle. This being the Yeast Hoist version of this beer that really didnt affect the taste as far as i know. Will have to try a "normal" bottle.

St. Sebastiaan Golden: In a very large, cork topped 750 ml bottle. Big, flaky chunks of yeast were visible on the bottom of the bottle, although they did not all make it into the glass (although a fair number did). Pours a very hazy, and somewhat chunky brew. Not much head, and what there is dissipated fairly quickly. Aroma is sweet, orangy and very much like wine. In fact the aroma really made it into the beer as well, to a very significant degree. This was as wine tasting a beer as I&#8217;ve had in a long time, and unfortunately, it wasn&#8217;t quality wine, but wine that was going to vinegar. I was not happy with this beer.

Shimmering peachy-gold hue, small flakes of yeast slowly dance to the bottom of my glass. The white head was modest in size, about a finger, very sticky, thick rings of lace were produced. The bouquet is lovely, peppery throughout, apricots, distant grapes, and a hint of spice, maybe alcohol. The nose is not very potent. I was surprised at how utterly soft the palate was, lightly peppery, petite alcohol the fruitiness is prevent for sure but too malleable, apricots and tropical fruit, its a delicate tasting Ale. The horse blank qualities are present but very minimal. The finish is sharp, the alcohol bites with baby teeth, quick and very more-ish. Very good a little to easy on the palate, more complexity and more boldness is definitely wanted. Medium-light body, token carbonation, it is as soft as a cloud on my tongue. This is a worthwhile Golden, try one, it is just not a world-beater.

Out of a 750ml corked and caged bottle with a code on the label of 30 08 04. Needed a cork screw to get the cork out. Pours a golden pale orange with an average white head that dissipated into a decent ring around the glass. The smell is quite weak; I pick up some very faint tart tropical fruit. The taste is of Belgian yeast and light candi sugar, light banana and honey, aged candied tropical fruit. A slight tart bitterness in the end. Definitely an aged quality to this sample, not to mention the monster yeast floaties at the bottom of this bottle. The feel is moderate with fizzy carbonation, finishes rather balanced perhaps on the tart and dry side. A quality Belgian brew, not up to snuff for a tripel but fine for a BSPA. My ratings reflect reviewing this beer as a tripel.

This beer poured an off-white head that consisted of small-medium sized bubbles. The body was cloudy and the hue was brown. There was no lacing on the sides of my glass with this beer. The nose was that of hops and malt. The mouthfeel was very smooth. There was no strong aftertaste observed ed with this beer. I definitely would drink this one again.Cool bottle.

Pours into an Oerbier tulip with one finger of white foam. Body has a very high level of clarity, with streams of carbonation aplenty. Color is a pale golden tone, with some visible suspended sediment.

Cooked vegetable aroma, papery stale grains, hay. Really nothing good...maybe this is a very old bottle.

Flavors of dried pineapple, Belgian candi sugar, pilsner malt, pepper and honey at the end. A metallic note also lingers in the finish. Fortunately, the buoyant carbonation keeps thinks light and airy. Lingering suds are creamy in a distinctive Belgian way. Slightly astringent, but against the carb and creaminess, it reminds me of a Saison.

Hard to finish, not many redeeming qualities. Maybe it improves with freshness, but this seems to be a discontinued item in Illinois, so I won't be trying it again.

Purchased March '07 at Friar Tuck in Springfield IL. I mistook the bottle for the higher rated "Grand Reserve" which also isn't worth a second thought. Frankly, the best use for this is to use the bottle for homebrewing or as a flower vase...

A funky ceramic-like flip-top bottle hides this beer away from my glass, and I need to do something about that. So remove the cap, hold the flip-top so it doesn't get in the way, and I pour. I pour a half-glass into my chalice. Where's the carbonation? There is none. Literally, none. OK, a couple of huge soap bubbles, but that's not a head. Must be strong stuff- so much alcohol that the dissolved gasses would get in the way.

Aroma is interesting. My first thought was that it was almost like a high quality golden tequila, but no, it's sweeter and fruitier, but there is something in there- wood smoke like I remember from the bad old days when I liked that other stuff. Vanilla. Banana. Smells like this has a lot of alcohol.

Flavor- not much. Quite a disappointment after the decent interesting aroma. No spices, no complexity, no pepper, weak fruit. Mouthfeel is flat and watery, not like a good tripel at all. Quite disappointing, actually.